8/2/2004

A listener on Hugh Hewitt’s show made a good point today about John Kerry’s appearance on “This Week.” Here is the transcript, and the following is the part that Hugh’s listener (and I) found interesting:

STEPHANOPOULOS: Taxes, first words out of President Bush’s mouth yesterday in his speech were, they’re going to raise taxes, we are not. You said in your speech on Thursday night, we won’t raise taxes on the middle class. Is that a rock hard pledge?

KERRY: Rock hard.

STEPHANOPOULOS: No matter what, no new taxes?

KERRY: Absolutely solid. No new taxes on the middle class. . . .

. . . .

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: But I’m trying to get here at what happens if circumstances change, if the economy slows down, if your plans end up being more expensive than you think. Are you saying no matter what, the middle class isn’t going to get a tax increase?

KERRY: That’s what I’m saying.

STEPHANOPOULOS: No matter what.

[Stephanopoulos then starts to move on to a new topic, and Kerry has a second thought:]

KERRY: Let me make one caveat.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Okay.

KERRY: War, obvious national emergency.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, we’re at war now.

D’oh!!

So John Kerry won’t raise taxes unless we’re at war. And that’s a “rock hard” pledge. Except that we are at war — a fact that Kerry doesn’t seem to understand, but George Stephanopoulos does (?!).

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

UPDATE: I see I am getting a lot of visits from totalfark.com — but I can’t see what’s being said there. Could someone e-mail me and give me a clue? Send your e-mail to patterico AT patterico DOT com.

new polling results showing overwhelming majorities watching the new US sponsored Arab language satellite TV channel. That’s incredibly good news and proves the investment was well worth it. Finally a US success in public diplomacy.

Good news, and important news.

PRE-EMPTIVE P.S. And please, no snarky comments suggesting that I don’t know that there is much bad news coming from Iraq.

SEARCH AMAZON USING THIS SEARCH BOX:
Purchases made through this search function benefit this site, at no extra cost to you.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.